The bigger picture for e-health

For this e-health theme issue, the Bulletin brought together leading thinkers in the field of e-health to discuss how new technologies can lead to better health for all.

Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu is chairman of GeHAP, the Global eHealth Ambassadors Program of the International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth, which aims to raise the profile of e-health worldwide, through advocacy activities.

Q: Can e-health help narrow gaps in social inequality across the world? If so, how?

A: Technology is a major driving force of our civilization. Whether through medicines to heal the sick or products for growing food to feed the hungry, or most recently information and communication technology to fuel economic and social growth, technology has always been intertwined with human development. Today the technology most accessible to the poor and disenfranchised is the mobile phone. If we want a vehicle for reaching the underserved with interventions from health and other sectors of the economy, the mobile phone is the technology of choice.

Q: Can e-health help to tackle the social determinants of health?

A: Definitely. What we need is a paradigm shift from information and communications technologies for health to a greater emphasis on information and communications technologies for development, which benefit health but also have an effect on education, agriculture, commerce, governance and other social determinants of health. What the poor and the vulnerable need is not only good health but good lives.

Q: What can governments and international agencies do to promote the benefits of e-health?

A: Governments set the rules of the game and international agencies have great influence on all players. The right policies and strategies for development of e-health, with proper emphasis on reducing inequalities can play a big role in promoting adoption of e-health technologies and thereby extend their benefits. Once people enjoy the benefits themselves, they will become agents of further promotion and drivers of future adoption. Developing national policies and strategies which create a fertile regulatory environment for e-health, building capacity through, for example, training programmes and on-the-job training for all health workers – these are some of the mechanisms through which governments and international agencies can help provide an enabling environment for the growth of e-health in countries.

For more interviews, check out the full story here